The Ark Is Moving2

08/12/2007

IT’S A NEW SEASON: THE ARK IS MOVING!

Joshua 3: 3-4

**In our last message we showed you from Isaiah 43: 19 that we are moving into “A New Season” and that God is doing “A New Thing” in this new season.

**The new thing that God is doing involves “Rebuilding the Tabernacle of David which is fallen”. According to Amos 9: 11 the Tabernacle of David will be rebuilt “as it was in the days of old”.

**How was it in the days of old that Amos is referring to? David built his Tabernacle at a time when the Glory of God and the power of His Presence had been lost!

**The Ark of the Covenant, which was the focal point of God’s Presence, Glory and Power in Israel, had been captured by the Philistines.

**The Glory of God had departed from the people but the Philistines returned the Ark to Israel. Saul had been replaced by God with a new king. It was time to “bring the Glory of God back to the people”.

**When the Presence of God returned, David built a Tabernacle for it. And everyone who worshipped at David’s Tabernacle was transformed by the Presence of God!

**What a remarkable parallel to the times that we are living in and to what we see today. The time we are living is certainly is “as it was in the days of old”!

**If we are honest with ourselves we will have to confess that that “compared to the early Church, we have lost so much of God’s glorious power and the beauty of God’s intimate Presence!

**The really good news is that God has promised to rebuild dwelling place for His glorious Power and to restore His Presence to His People!

**In order for us to grasp the significance of this New Season we need to do at least two things this morning. First of all:

**We need to:

I. EXAMINE THE TABERNACLE OF MOSES!

*Notice:

A. The PLANS that were RECEIVED!

Exodus 25: 8 Let them construct a sanctuary for Me . . .

1) The pattern of the TABERNACLE

25:9 According to all that I am going to show you, as the pattern of the tabernacle . . .

2) The pattern of the FURNISHINGS

25:9 . . . and the pattern of all its furniture, just so shall you construct it!

**ARK (25: 10)

**It is significant to note that there are “three arks” mentioned in the Bible. 1) The Ark of Noah 2) The Ark of Moses and 3) The Ark of the Covenant.

**It is also worth noting that all three of these Arks speak of the same things. Each one of them speaks of: Deliverance from Judgment, Refuge from the Storms of Life, the blessings of obedience to God, Trust in God and the Presence of God!

**Noah and his family of eight were spared from the Judgment of God. The Ark was covered with “pitch” (kaphar = atonement), outside and inside.

**Moses mother (Jochebed) made the second ark out of bulrushes. This was a refuge from the judgment of Pharaoh. We see that Moses was kept safe and sound from the judgment and from the dangers around him because he was “inside the Ark”!

**The first two Arks were preparation for the third Ark. This Ark was a beautiful picture of Jesus Christ. Time will not permit me to show you all of these details but suffice it to say that everything about it pointed to and painted a picture of Jesus!

**I call your attention to the second piece of furniture that is relevant to our message today. Not only did God instruct Moses to build an Ark but He also instructed Moses to build a:

**MERCY SEAT (25: 17,21)

**This mercy seat was to be built of pure gold and it was to be placed “on top” of the Ark like a crown!

**There were three things that God would eventually command them to place inside the Ark. What are they?

1) The Two Tablets of Stone or The Law of God

2) The Golden Pot of Manna:

3) The Rod of Aaron and it did bud or bear fruit inside.

**The fundamental teaching that God wanted Israel to learn from the LAW or tablets of stone was HOLINESS! (Exodus 25: 16, 40:20)

**The Manna speaks to us about the true Manna that comes down from heaven and that is Jesus Christ as The Word of God! (Exodus 16: 32-34, 2 Cor 9: 10).

**The Rod of Aaron speaks to us about The Anointing. This command came to Israel during a rebellion against Aaron’s leadership and ministry. God told them to put his rod in the Ark of the covenant and it budded. This was so that everyone could see that Aaron was the one God had “anointed” and “appointed” for the ministry! (Numbers 17: 10)

**We see the PLANS that Moses RECEIVED but now I want you to notice:

B. The PURPOSE that was REVEALED!

Exodus 25: 8 . . . that I may dwell among them

**God reveals three reasons for having Moses to build the Ark and to place the Mercy Seat on top of it. God wanted the Ark of the Covenant to be a place of:

1) HABITATION:

25: 8 . . . that I may dwell among them

2) MANIFESTATION:

25: 22 . . . there I will meet with you

3) COMMUNICATION:

25: 22 from above the mercy seat . . . I will speak to you

**Now while it is true that the Ark and the Mercy Seat are “Pictures or Types” of Jesus Christ for us, but they were NOT “Pictures or Types” of anything for Israel!

**Above the Mercy Seat is the Place that God chose for His HABITATION “that I may dwell among them”! It was above this mercy seat that God would clearly Manifest His Presence, His Shekinah Glory and it is where God would speak with them!

**I can’t say it more emphatically, this was NOT a Picture or Type, but it was the literal Glory, Power and Presence of God Himself!

**So I hope that you can see and or sense the importance of The TABERNACLE of MOSES! It was the Place where God instructed them on how to approach Him and how to worship Him!

**The next thing we need to do is:

**We need to:

I. EXPLORE THE TABERNACLE OF DAVID!

A. The DESIRE was being EXPERIENCED!

1 Samuel 7: 2 From the day that the ark remained at Kiriath-jearim, the time was long, for it was twenty years; and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord!

**How long can you go without a manifestation of the Presence of God? Israel had been doing business as usual for 20 long and fruitless years.

**Saul was the choice of the People and he was a really good military leader but he did not have a heart for God or for the things of God!

**Anytime a nation or a Church goes 20 years without the Glory, Power and Presence of God, they are going to reap the consequences of it. For example notice three characteristics of the days when Saul was king:

1) The PRIESTHOOD was DEFILED!

1 Samuel 3: 11-14 Therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.

2) The NATION was DEFEATED!

1 Samuel 4: 2 When the battle spread, Israel was defeated

3) The GLORY had DEPARTED!

1 Samuel 4: 21 And she called the boy Ichabod, saying “The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God was taken.”

**When God removed Saul from his place of leadership and replaced him with David. The first thing David did was to begin looking for ways to get the Ark of the Covenant back to the People!

**Not only was the DESIRE beginning to be EXPERIENCED but:

B. The DECISION was being EMBRACED!

1 Chronicles 13: 1 Then David consulted with . . . every leader 2 . . . if it seems good to you and if it is from the Lord our God . . . 3 let us bring back the ark of our God to us, for we did not seek it in the days of Saul 4 Then all the assembly said that they would do so, for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people!

**David gave the orders to go and get the Ark of the Lord and to bring it back to the people. They go and begin the long and joyous journey of returning the Ark of the Covenant.

**They played music, sacrificed animals every six paces, shouted, danced and celebrated like no other time in history!

**This was A NEW SEASON and it certainly was A NEW MINISTRY!

**It was the same ARK of the COVENANT that Moses built. It was the same Mercy Seat that Moses built but it was A NEW SEASON OF MINISTRY.

**It is interesting to note that Saul’s daughter (David’s wife), was offended at this NEW MINISTRY. She had never known anything other than The TABERNACLE of MOSES.

**She is a picture or a type of the Church or individual Christian who has only known a more traditional way of approaching God.

**I want to close this message by calling your attention to the fact that:

C. The DISTINCTION must be EVALUATED!

2 Samuel 6: 9 So David was afraid of the Lord that day; and he said, “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?”

**What a great question David asks: How can the ark of the Lord come to me?

**Was David being irreverent and therefore being judged by God for the way he was dancing and carrying on “in the presence of God”?

**Was David being disrespectful of Moses and the Tabernacle of Moses by bringing in this NEW SEASON and NEW MINISTRY?

**Let’s take a quick look at both Tabernacles (Moses and David’s). When we examine the Tabernacle of Moses we discover that:

MOSES was characterized by: DAVID . . . by:

**REGULATIONS RELATIONSHIP

**OBSERVATION PARTICIPATION

Moses was characterized by: David . . . by:

**SILENCE NOISE

Which one was right?

Which one was better?

**The answer is that both of them were right and neither one was better than the other!

**They were not contradictions of each other but they were compliments to each other!

**I want you to pay close attention to the statements at the end of your outline.

**The Tabernacle of Moses was wonderful as long as the PRESENCE of GOD was there!

**You have heard me quote this verse many times and it is 100% dead on right! God is the same, yesterday, today and forever!

**God is the SAME but He does not STAY in the same PLACES!

**One of the things that we discover by studying the Tabernacles of Moses and David is that

The ARK moves on but some PEOPLE stay in the same PLACES and do the same THINGS!

**Some Churches are still trying to worship God in the Tabernacle of Moses but the ARK IS NOT THERE! They still want to follow the regulations and they want Church to be a Spectator event that they enjoy in Silence! That was fine and wonderful during the old season but guess what? THE ARK HAS MOVED!

**It is A NEW SEASON, and God says that He is REBUILDING THE TABERNACLE OF DAVID!

**It flows out of a Personal RELATIONSHIP and it requires Personal PARTICIPATION and it will be NOISY and MESSY!

**Now I call your attention to the verse that God gave me during the birthing of this Church. It is also the verse the Lord brought to my mind during our 21 day season of fasting this January. God says in Joshua 3:3 When you SEE the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your God . . . you shall set out from your place and GO AFTER IT!

**Guess what Church? IT’S A NEW SEASON and THE ARK IS MOVING and I AM GOING AFTER IT!